Can this be done?

[TerryRitchie]

I recently saw a YouTube video where the presenter was using Linux to navigate around his drive. Pretty simple except something caught my eye. The Linux File Manager (Windows Explorer) had a terminal window permanently attached to the bottom of it. This allowed him to issue command prompt commands at will no matter where he is located in the file system. Genius. I've attached a quick Windows mock-up below to show what I mean.

Does anyone know if a 3rd party add-on is available for Windows that gives this functionality? I'm constantly at the command prompt. I added a Windows power tool years ago that allows me to hold down the SHIFT key and then right click on a folder. Within the list of options will be "Open command prompt here". This is handy but I would much prefer to have a persistent command window like I saw in that video.

[SMcNeill]

Windows Terminal tends to always stay active, down in the notification area of your screen.  But it's Win 10+, I think.

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And here's a tip you might like:

When you open a Windows Explorer folder, you’ll see an address bar similar to that in a web browser. By default, it shows the path of the current folder. If you click on this address bar, you can type in text. By typing “cmd” and hitting Enter, you’ll open up the command prompt at that location.

[TerryRitchie]

Windows Terminal tends to always stay active, down in the notification area of your screen.  But it's Win 10+, I think.

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And here's a tip you might like:

When you open a Windows Explorer folder, you’ll see an address bar similar to that in a web browser. By default, it shows the path of the current folder. If you click on this address bar, you can type in text. By typing “cmd” and hitting Enter, you’ll open up the command prompt at that location.

Yep, I know all the different tricks to bring up a command window. The functionality I saw in that video I would really like to have. It just makes so much sense to me, well at least to someone that uses the command prompt as much as the explorer.

I've been scouring the Internet for an add-on but Google has turned into a steaming pile, treating every query as though you are asking a question to be answered. Long gone is the Google search from 15 years ago I guess.

[Jack]

@TerryRitchie
there are some opensource file managers for windows, none that I looked at showed the feature that you want but perhaps the developers of one of file managers is open to suggestions
google led me to this https://alternativeto.net/software/windo...opensource
one that looked interesting was Explorer++ https://explorerplusplus.com/
GitHub  https://github.com/derceg/explorerplusplus

[a740g]

I recently saw a YouTube video where the presenter was using Linux to navigate around his drive. Pretty simple except something caught my eye. The Linux File Manager (Windows Explorer) had a terminal window permanently attached to the bottom of it. This allowed him to issue command prompt commands at will no matter where he is located in the file system. Genius. I've attached a quick Windows mock-up below to show what I mean.

Does anyone know if a 3rd party add-on is available for Windows that gives this functionality? I'm constantly at the command prompt. I added a Windows power tool years ago that allows me to hold down the SHIFT key and then right click on a folder. Within the list of options will be "Open command prompt here". This is handy but I would much prefer to have a persistent command window like I saw in that video.

Lot of folks love the idea (me included ) - https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/5591

[TerryRitchie]

I recently saw a YouTube video where the presenter was using Linux to navigate around his drive. Pretty simple except something caught my eye. The Linux File Manager (Windows Explorer) had a terminal window permanently attached to the bottom of it. This allowed him to issue command prompt commands at will no matter where he is located in the file system. Genius. I've attached a quick Windows mock-up below to show what I mean.

Does anyone know if a 3rd party add-on is available for Windows that gives this functionality? I'm constantly at the command prompt. I added a Windows power tool years ago that allows me to hold down the SHIFT key and then right click on a folder. Within the list of options will be "Open command prompt here". This is handy but I would much prefer to have a persistent command window like I saw in that video.

Lot of folks love the idea (me included ) - https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/5591

Reading through that I see KDE's Dolphin file manager does this. That must be what I saw in the video. I'm glad others like this feature as well but I'm hoping an add-on, and not something from Microsoft, is made available. An add-on would possibly allow older Windows versions to use it as well. If it's added to Windows 11 it will be of no use to me.

Now, off to explore the KDE Dolphin file manager. I may be switching to Linux sooner than I thought.

[JRace]

I don't know about Explorer add-ons, but some dual-pane (the so-called "orthodox") file managers have an input line at the bottom of their window where you can type your nefarious commands.  Free Commander and Midnight Commander come to mind.  Free Commander will open a command prompt to execute your command.

IIRC some dual-pane managers actually allow you to turn panes off so you can view/use the console window "under" it.  Again IIRC, those were for MS-DOS.